Meeting Abstract
Climate change threatens to affect almost all aspects of animal ecology, physiology, and behavior, and poses particular challenges to organisms unable to migrate to areas conforming to historical temperature ranges. We focus on an understudied aspect of climate change – the impact of rising temperatures on reproductive communication. The treehopper Enchenopa binotata (Hemiptera: Membracidae) uses vibrational signals that travel through plant stems to coordinate mating. Males produce advertisement signals and females respond to attractive signals to form a duet that facilitates pair formation. Females select mates based on signal frequency (Hz), but signal frequency is sensitive to temperature. We measured individual and family-level variation in signals and preferences across a range of biologically-relevant temperatures (18 – 36C) to test whether changes in temperature lead to breakdowns in communication, which may occur if the male signal frequency, but not female preference, varies with temperature. We used a full-sib, split-brood quantitative genetics breeding design which allowed us to test for population, family, and individual-level variation in male signaling and female response behavior. We found a slight mismatch in the overall populations for the temperature at which males and females were maximally active, with females responding most at 30C and males signaling most at 27C, which may generate a mismatch in reproductive activity level. We also found an overall increase in the frequency of male signals and female peak preference at higher temperatures and significant individual and family-level variation in these traits. Our results suggest that patterns of mating in a population may depend on an interaction between the genetic backgrounds of interacting individuals and ambient temperature.
